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BVSD school board generally supportive of asking voters for small operational tax increase

By Amy Bounds

Staff Writer

Posted:
08/09/2016 09:37:28 PM MDT

Updated:
08/10/2016 01:36:19 PM MDT

Laurent Grosjean, a electrical apprentice, works on installing data drops in the library at Boulder High School on June 30 as part of construction projects from the Boulder Valley School District's $576 million bond issue. (Autumn Parry / Staff Photographer)

The operational tax increase, a new option for districts that was approved during the last state legislative session as part of the Debt Free Schools Act, could be used only for expenses in specific categories, including construction, maintenance and technology.

Recent polling showed that a $10 million property tax increase would have a support rate of about 60 percent.

District officials said Tuesday that the tax increase would allow the district to maintain services and avoid cuts in future years. The district is predicting a budget shortfall for the 2017-18 school year of $5 million.

"We need to be respectful of our community here and not rush into anything," he said.

School board member Kathy Gebhardt responded that she would rather ask voters now, before the district needs to make painful budget cuts.

"Our community would want us to come and ask them," she said.

The district could use the operational mill levy money to pay for existing services — the district this year will spend about $33 million in the operational mill levy categories — or add new services. Both ongoing maintenance and custodians have been underfunded to balance the budget, district officials said.

Adding a new operational revenue stream also would free up money that could be spent in other areas of the budget, such as professional development for teachers, literacy programs or more counselors.

But several board members cautioned that extra money likely will be needed just to balance the budget and avoid cuts, saying they don't want to "over promise" when pitching the measure to voters.

"It sounds like we're paddling as fast as we can just to stay where we are," board member Jennie Belval said.

The district estimates that a $10 million tax increase would cost homeowners about $1.13 more a year per $100,000 of home value, or about $4.50 a year for a $400,000 home. For a $30 million tax increase, covering most of the district's operations spending, it would cost about $13.60 a month with a $400,000 home.

If the school board agrees, the measure could be written to allow the district to collect more money in future years based on need, up to a specific cap. For a $10 million tax increase, the cap would be set at 4 mills, which could equal about $23.4 million a year.

"It creates flexibility," Messinger said.

To determine the likelihood of a tax increase passing, the district hired Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy Inc., to conduct polling earlier this summer.

The company surveyed about 600 likely Boulder Valley voters on their support for an operations tax increase or a transportation-specific tax increase.

For the operations tax increase, 63 percent said they would vote in favor of a $10 million increase. Almost the same percentage — 62 percent — said they would vote for a $5 million increase for transportation-related expenses.

The survey found less support, about 55 percent, for a larger operations tax increase of $30 million.

Bob Drake, of Talmey-Drake Research, told the school board Tuesday that he wouldn't recommend going forward the larger amount based on polling.

The survey also looked at community perceptions of the district.

District voters, by a wide margin of 70 percent to 20 percent, say they believe things in their community are "headed in the right direction" as opposed to being "off on the wrong track."

"This is a very good year for the school district to go for a tax increase," Drake said. "Other districts would love to see this kind of a trend."

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